Destination Unknown

2006-06-28T05:22:00.000-07:00

Here is a photo of me standing on the Jordan side of the Dead Sea. The land that you see on the other side is Israel. There is a border crossing into Israel not to far from where we were.

This is a photo from the Church of the Holy Sceptlicure. (Not sure if that his how you spell it). This is a very interesting chruch for many reasons, it is located in the Old City of Jerusalem. Salah Ad Din a great Muslim warrior, turned responsiblity for this church over to a Muslim Family when he conquered Jerusalem centuries ago. This same family is still responsible for the key to the church and is responsible for the upkeep. the chruch is currently occupied by Roman Catholics, Coptic's and Orthodox Christians. Oh year, this is also where the tomb of Jesus Christ is supposed to be. That is what the Roman Catholic Priest in the above photo is standing in front of.
This is the area in the front of Jesus' tomb

Here is a photo of the old city of Jerusalem, it is located where you see the golden dome of a mosque. This is the back side of Jesus' tomb, being attended to by one of the Orthodox Christians.

Long time no post

2006-06-24T10:17:00.000-07:00

I has been quite a while since my last post. I guess since that time quite a few things have happened. Some of them have been very bad, some have been very good.

Unfortunately Wan's father passed away in late May while we were in Amman and we had to head back to Thailand for the funeral. He was only 59 years old and died in his sleep. He was not ill that we know of. Wan of course was devastated, she was very close to her father. For me it was also a great loss, Lob (Wan's Dad) had always had a very good relationship, even though we had difficulty communicated to one another, he was a good man, with a deep belief in Budda, and always tried to help people that were less fortunate than him.
The Funeral was a very interesting experience, the Thias show the dead's body for 3 days and then it is cremated, at 7 days after death there is a big party and at 100 days after death an extremely big party is held to celebrate the deads life. The funeral is quite elaborate and spiratual. Wan's father's friends on the night of his creation spent the entire night ensuring that there were plenty of coals on the funeral pyre. The next morning we all showed up and picked through the ashes looking for the remaining bones, I actually found one of Lob's teeth, which is extremely good luck, Wan's brother took the tooth and had it cast in gold so I can wear it around my neck, after it has been blessed by the Buddist Monks at the temple. All in all it was quite a good experience, the way the Thais celebrate death give people a great deal of closure, truth be told the spriritual side is so strong it feels like the person never passed.

On a good note Wan and I purchased our first house in Thailand. We purchased a house that is onwned by an English guy and his Thai wife. They want to get out of the house becuase it is two big for them since thier kids have grown and moved out of Thailand. The house is about 1000 Square Feet, on a Rai of land (300 ft by 150 ft) roughly the size of a football field. The driveway is all mosaic tile there is an avary for birds, Koi Pond with a bridge, a Teak Gazebo and Bar with sound system, pool table as well as Bananna, Mango and Jackfruit trees. All of this for about $140,000. Not a bad deal.

I also took my first trip to Israel, what an amazing place, I spent 5 days in Tel Aviv, which is a great city on the Med. Sea. Very beautiful beaches and extemely modern. My initial impression was Israel did not have the military feel that I always assumed it had. We also spent a day in Jerusalem, which is a very old city with alot of history, we toured the Holy Sepluchure church which is where the tomb of Jesus Christ is. The church is maintained by a Muslim Family and Coptic's, Orthodox and Roman Catholics all occupy space in the church. I took a bunch of photos and will post them once I get a chance to download them.

I currently have a trip to Sudan, Libiya and Israel scheduled for the next few months, looking forward to checking out some new places.

Till the next post, take care and take it easy.

Later

Life in Amman

2006-05-11T08:38:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since my last post. Wan and I are still living in Amman Jordan and getting used to being out of Iraq. We are not sure how long we will be in Amman but would not mind spending some time here. The weather is great, the people are extremely friendly and there is a very interesting mix of cultures here. There have been some security issues here but nothing major, the security forces caught some members of Hamas smuggling weapons into the country and stockpiling them to lauch attacks against the Jordanian government. The Jordanians take security very seriously which is a good thing given thier geographic location, Iraq to the east, Syria to the north and Israel to the northwest. Jordan relies on it neighbors and moderate world stance to survive since it has no real natural resources. Wan and I are planning on moving into an apartment in a week or so, we have a good friend who is Iraqi that owns a few apartments here, so he is going to give us a good deal. Jordan has quite a large Iraqi population, most of the wealthy Iraqi's fled here during the war. Part of my job here is not only to oversee some of the projects I still have in Iraq but to also conduct visits to other potential project sites and help put together proposals to win the work. It looks like I may be headed to Libiya at the end of the month for a week or so, hopefully I will get a photo with Momar Khadafi.

There is a possibility of us heading to Thailand to work on a project in Bangkok is we win it, which of course would be great but I dont want to get to excited for it.

Out of Iraq

2006-03-29T06:46:00.000-08:00

Today Wan and I arrived in Amman Jordan. We have decided that we have had enough of Iraq. Unfortunately we were not planning on leaving this soon but due to recent threats that singled me out, we decided to get out as quickly as possible.

Last week I recieved a call from a US Army Special Forces Unit operating in my area, who had information that said that the Islamic Army in Iraq was planning to ambush our security convoy, kill the security personnel and kidnap me in order to get some political prisioners released. This is the same organization that has Jill Carrol and kidnapped the four christian activists, three of which were released last week. When I first heard of this plot my heart hit the floor, it was a very uncomfortable feeling. A few days later we recieved more specific information that showed they had identified the three cars in our security convoy and the road we travel on routinely. This information made the treat very real. It was obvious that someone I had been working with was giving information to the insurgents. That is when Wan and I decided it was time to leave.

Having worked in Iraq for over a year and spending 75% of my time traveling on the roads that are the most dangerous part of the country, I knew there were risks, but once I became the specific target, it was a little to much for me to deal with. My nerve, which you need alot of to succeed in that type of environment was shot.

It feels like a huge weight has been lifted off of our shoulders, we are looking forward to living and working in Amman, although at this point I am not sure how long we will be here and getting back to a somewhat normal life.

I sure had enough experiences working in Iraq to last a lifetime, but sometimes change is for the best.

Later

Tom

Still more photos

2006-02-14T03:19:00.000-08:00

Penguins at Simons Bay Cape Town
Wan and I at Cape Point, Cape Town
Mountians along the Wine Route
Wan stealing grapes from a vineyard
Warthog on the way to Sodwana Bay

More Photos

2006-02-12T05:40:00.000-08:00

We saw four male lions lounging on the side of the road

Here are two Giraffes that we saw in the road.
Wan, Matt and I with our Guide at Echo Caves

This male Elephant was pretty agitated.

Great White Shark hitting our cage

More Photos

2006-02-10T05:35:00.000-08:00

Cheetah we saw near Sadwana Bay

Rhino at the Kruger National Park

Table Mountain in Cape Town

Phython on the way to Sodwana Bay

Table Mountian seen from Robben Island

What a trip

2006-02-10T03:06:00.000-08:00

Large male Lion at the Kruger National Park

Troop of Baboons at the Crystal Springs Mountain Lodge

Hungry Great White Shark outside our cage
Waiting for a Great White Shark
Sunset at the Kruger National Park

Wan and I finally returned to Iraq on Tuesday. Our trip to South Africa was greater than I ever imagined. We ended up spending 21 days traveling all around the country. We started in Johannesburg and travelled to the Eastern Transval for a few days where we hiked to beautiful water falls and visited God's Window. From there we headed to the Kruger National Park for 5 days. During our time at the Kruger we saw plenty of wildlife including the big male lion in the photo above. That photo was taken from about 10 feet away from the lion. We also say Hyena, Elephant, Giraffe, Hippo, Rino, Water Buffalo, Cheetah, Zebra and Warthog. If anyones plans on visiting South Africa the Kruger is a must see. From the Kruger we headed to Sodwana Bay for some diving, on our way to Sodwana we passed through the small african nation of Swaziland which is extremely rural but very beautiful. From Sodwana we drove the coast to Cape Town on our way down we went surfing in Plettinsburg Bay and Shark Cage Diving in Gansbaai. Our friend Matt also did the highest commercial bungy jump in the world. The free fall is 540 feet. Of course I pussed out because I am deathly afraid of heights. The eastern coast of South Africa is littered with real cool beach towns and beautiful beaches.

Cape Town was a great place. We went to Robben Island where all of the Aparthied Political Prisioners were held. We even stood in Nelson Mandela's former cell. One day we spent on the " Wine Route" sampling some of South Africa's best wines.

It was very difficult for us to leave, but I know that this was only our introductory trip. On our next trip we plan on visiting Mozanbique and Namibia.

We took about 1000 photos, so I will be posting some more in the near future.

Later

Tom

Trip of a lifetime

2006-01-04T05:25:00.000-08:00

Well the new year and the holidays have passed in a flash. It is hard to believe it is 2006 and I have been in Iraq for almost a year, time flies when your having fun. The holidays were good although nothing compared to spending time with the family and friends during this time of year. We barbequed a whole lamb on a spit for Christmas Eve with our South African Security Team, it was actually quite nice.

It has been nearly three months since Wan and I went on our last R&R and we are both getting pretty thin on patience. After spending a year hear in Iraq, there is alot I have learned to deal with and some cultural things that still drive me crazy.

We are leaving in 10 days on a trip that I consider the trip of a lifetime and hopefully the first of many more. Wan, Matt (My buddy who looks like Jesus) and I are headed to South Africa for three weeks. We are going to spend the first week in and around the Kruger National Park which is on the border of Mozambique. We plan on going on a few Safari's while in the Kruger. The Kruger is home to a wide range of wild life and should be fantastic. After the Kruger we are heading to Sodwana Bay which is on the Northeast coast of the country to do some diving and fishing. After a few days in Sowana we are going to drive the Garden Route all the way from the north to Cape Town where we plan on spending the last week.

Ever since my college days I wanted to go to Africa and we decided since we cant go to the states yet because of Wan's visa we might as well take the oppurtunity to see some places we always wanted to see.

Way to close for Comfort

2005-11-25T23:38:00.000-08:00

Holy Shit that was close, was my intial feeling as we almost got caught right in the middle of a large scale battle between Iraqi Police, Army and Insugents yesterday afternoon.

Our company schedules a bi-monthly meeting for Project Managers at our main office in Baghdad. Yesterday myself and 3 other guys who work in the north were headed to Baghdad for this months meeting when we found ourself in town named Tuz. Tuz is about 150 Kilometers south of Erbil and about the half way point for the trip to Baghdad. As we were driving through the city which is on both sides of the main road to Baghdad there were Iraqi Army blocking the road. As we approached them to see what the problem was and if they would let us pass, machine gun fire started coming from our right hand side aimed toward a Police Station that was about 15 Meters from where we were. We could actually see the bullets hitting the concrete walls of the Police Station. Within seconds the Police starting returning for with large machine guns from thier guard towers. Suddenly fire broke out from behind us. At this point everyone on the street, which was pretty crowded at the time started running for cover. Our drivers were able to quickly turn around, as our vehicle was turning around we ran into another one of our cars, smashing the front section of the car. We were pretty lucky we the vehicle was able still able to run becuase evacuating the personnel in the car would have been pretty tricky in the middle of a gun fight and it would have blown our cover which certainly would have drawn some attention.
We were able to get out of the town without any of our vehicles getting hit, for a time we did get separated from one of our other vehicles but they were able to catch up with us in a few minutes.
This is the second incident in as many days. The first incident was a sniper attack on one of our vehicles that was heading to a project in Mosul. The sniper fired 2 shots once of which was between our driver and security guy, luckily he shot at one of the armored vehicles so the round bounced off the windsheild.
Things have picked up here a little bit due to the restart of Saddam's trial on the 28th and the elections coming in mid December. Hopefully if the elections are a success things will start to change for the better.

One Step Forward Two Steps Back

2005-10-26T07:15:00.000-07:00

The last few weeks have been pretty intense in Iraq. We are right now almost through the holy month of Rammadan and approaching the 3 day feast of Eid which is the conclusion on the holy month. It has been pretty interesting to watch the sacrifice many of my coworkers have made during this time.
It was just announced yesterday that the constitution passed, which for most of the country is good news, although it may further cause isolation of the Sunni population. Hopefully they will join in the political process, but unfortunately in my opinion they many will continue to support the insurgency.
A story was released today which hadnt been made public till now, according to the in country intelligence reports, 4 contractors from KBR were killed last month in a Sunni town north of Baghdad. They got lost and found themselves confronted by and angry mob who pulled them from thier vehicles and lit them on fire, the report stated that children from the town were throwing straw on the burning bodies to stoke the fire, the contractors were still alive when they were doused with gasoline and lit on fire. I am amazed that this story was kept from the media for so long.
Things are starting to change here in Kurdistan, as you may have heard there were 4 car bombs, three of which detenated in the northern city of Sulymanyah. I did 5 projects in Suly as we call it. It is known to have the best security in all of Iraq and is extremely progressive and quite picturesque. The one bomb that was defused was found outside the hotel I stayed at a few times.

Today, we were visited by the local police who were on the look out for two Arab Suicide Bombers who had made it into the city. Unfortunately Erbil is booming with the opening of the new international airport (we no longer have to travel 6 hours by car to Baghdad, which is a relief) and there is also alot of development and foriegn companies moving here, so of course the city and its people become more of a high profile target. We knew this would be happening and perhaps it is an inevitable part of Iraq's growth. The Kurds will make a stand to defend their people and land but I fear it will create further divides within the country.

We also recieved some unfortunate news that one of our Security guys was shot near Falluja by the US Military. Bennie spent about 3 weeks on our project and is a stand up guy, a US convoy was passing them on the opposite side to the road and decided to cut across the median, the opened fire on Bennies car and he was hit just below the eye. The evacuated him to a military hospital but it is to early to tell whether or not he will make it.

Like the title of this entry says One step forward two steps back, this may sound pretty cynical but I still have hope that things are changing for the best. It has just been a few rough days, with more to come I am sure.

School Opening

2005-09-12T21:46:00.000-07:00

We attended a ribbon cutting ceremony at one of our completed schools. Here are some photos of us during the ceremony.

The photo on the left is of the US Army Rep., the school staff and Tom and myself.

The photo on the right is with our Engineer and Subcontractor. Our Subcontractor wore his traditional Kurdish suit for this special occasion. I need to get one of those styling suits, possibly in light blue.

Our Boys

2005-09-06T03:57:00.000-07:00

Lucky and Rufus (our newest addition)

Afternoon Siesta

Scruffy and Lucky

These are some photos of three of our four dogs. We now have Bear (our first), Scruffy, who was rescued by one of our guards and delivered to our office in a potato sack. Lucky came next, Wan talked one of the neighbors into letting us have him, he is now full grown. The latest additon is Rufus who is about 6 weeks old. Rufus was given to us by one of our coworkers who couldnt keep him. Lucky, Bear and Scruffy are all about the same age and all four dogs are male. They get along really well, unless there is a bone around, then Lucky becomes a viscous little monster.

Iraqi's are deathly afraid of dogs, the havent realized that if you kick and throw rocks at dogs they will try to bite you. They also think they are dirty animals. It is quite a cultural clash when a new Iraqi walks into our office and is greeted by 4 dogs, two of whom are large and loud.

Sheiks and WMD's????

2005-09-02T21:40:00.000-07:00

I have been extremely busy over the last few weeks, we have had a big push with our new Police Station Project starting up and putting together new proposals to get new projects.

We are starting a new Police Station that has been listed as a high priority by Task Force Freedom in the Mosul area. The station is located in a small town that until a few months ago was inhabited by insurgents. The local leaders or Shieks, worked with the US Military to "clean" this area up. This essentially means that either they drove the insurgents out of the area or made a deal with the insurgents to not cause any problems in the immediate area. The Sheiks are wealthy land owners whose title gets passed down from generation to generation, these guys for lack of a better term are local mafia, they control the Iraqi Army, Iraqi Police and Insurgents in thier area.
I was visited by the two main Shieks in the area we are going to start working in, Sheik Khadir and Shiek Ali. When our conversation started I was basically told that no one would be aloud to enter thier area without thier permission. No one would be allowed to work there unless they were from the area. Amazingly they are contractors who would be willing to do the work for us. As the conversation progressed we started to understand that we both needed eachother. The way these guys usually work is, they generally know who the bad guys are, and if they dont like you they will tell the bad guys who you are and what you do and then you have a problem. Fortunately they agreed to allow our subcontractor to work in thier area since he had family in the area and his father is also a powerful Shiek and therefore demands respect. It also didnt hurt that we have more work in the area and will allow them to bid on it.

We went on a site work for a new project two days ago to do an assessment on the area, we were lucky coming to the project site becuase we passed an Anti-Tank Mine that was discovered in the road we traveled on. The US Forces were able to disarm it before it did any damage. The site we visited was an old missle testing facility under Saddam. There was tons of spent rockets and pure rocket fuel all over the site. The US had known about this facility because they bombed the piss out of it at the beginning of the war. The interesting thing about this site is all of the underground bunkers on site and barrels of Blistering Agent (Mustard Gas) that are still at the site. The site is located about 100 Km's from Syria, could it be that these are the WMD's????

Later
Tom

Traffic Jam

2005-08-02T22:38:00.000-07:00

I had the pleasure of spending last weekend in the lovely resort town of Baghdad. The weekend sort of started out on the wrong foot when the armored vehicle part of our team was traveling in decided halfway through the trip that it wasnt going to go any farther. Due to the high summer temps our vehicles are becoming quite finicky. The temperatures are now hovering around 120 by about 11 am. The weekend went well, all of the Project Managers got together to talk about issues we are having on all our projects.
The real fun didnt start until Wan and I had to return to our place in the North. We had to rent an armored vehicle to make it back home since ours crapped out on us. The vehicle started off driving a little rough on our trip out of Baghdad, after about an hour or so it became quite evident that we were riding in a real pig. About 2 hours into our usual 6 hour drive we were stopped on the road by the US Military who were in the process of Medivacing someone the from roadside, which usually means a fairly large scale attack had happend.
We were stopped along the road for over 1 hour. When a traffic jam occurs in Iraq, it is like no other place. Instead of waiting in line, everyone trys to move to the front, within 15 minutes there were 12 lanes of traffic heading in one direction, with us stuck in the middle, which means if someone decides they are playing for the other team we may find ourselves in a precarious situation, since or only option would be to get out of our vehicles and run.
So there we were stuck in the middle of the road with no where to move and everyone starts getting out of thier cars and milling around, which also isnt a good thing since they can spot us and call some buddies on the phone to come an ruin our day. After about sitting for 30 minutes our security team leader looks over to the car sitting right next us and realizes there are two acetelyene tanks and 5 gallons of fuel sitting in the back seat with two "boxes" strapped the the back of the front seats. One possiblility is this gentlemen is owns a mobile welding company the other is he is a Car Bomber, given the current political situation, the latter is probably the case.
Let me tell you noticing that car made my heart skip a few beats, now Wan is sitting next to me asking what is going on, luckily I was able to take a deep breath and point to some old guy on the side of the road who decided he couldnt hold it any longer and had to take a dump. We finally started moving after 30 more minutes which was a huge relief.
About 5 miles down the road, you guessed it, another traffic jam. This was the scene of the accident, which wasnt really an accident but an ambush by insurgents. The insurgents ambushed an Iragi Army convoy using numerous roadside bombs and small arms fire. Two shot up Iraqi Army vehicles were on the side of the road and evidence of the roadside bombs were very obvious (large craters usually give that away). So here we are stuck again, this time for only about an hour.
We finally got moving and go figure the armored car breaks down, acutally just cut out, lucky for us we were approaching an Iraqi Army Checkpoint and were able to tow the vehicle into thier compound. Breaking down at the checkpoint was a hell of alot better than in one of the traffic jams which would have been a whole other story. We finally made it home after about 8 hours, quite a long stressful day traveling the roads of Iraq.

Later
Tom

First Contact

2005-07-25T22:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had my first contact with Insurgents. This is the second attack our team has come under in the last three days. Once again we were very fotunate that nobody on our team was hurt.
We were driving through the city of Mosul, and from what I can figure out, somebody picked up on our convoy. We travel low profile, which means that we blend in with the local population when we travel. Somewhere along the road somebody recognized us as a PSD Convoy and called ahead to some insurgents who had positioned themselves in a small alley way. As our convoy drove past the alley they opened fire on us. It all happened very quickly, we could see four guys in the alley with thier faces covered and AK-47's in thier hands running back down the alley. None of the bullets hit any of our vehicles and we continued on down the road watching to see if we were being followed. This is a very common hit and run technique that the insurgents have been using. Sometimes they try to hit a convoy with Small Arms Fire to get the teams out of thier cars and then there is a sniper positioned on a near by building who tries to hit the team while they are concentrating on the Small Arms Fire.
I have been anticipating a contact since I have been in country, eventually knowing it was bound to happen.

Tom

Lucky Day for our Team

2005-07-23T22:13:00.000-07:00

Yesterday at about 1600 I recieved word that our team's convoy was hit by an IED (Improvised Explosive Device). When our Security Manager came in to deliver the news my heart fell to the bottom of my stomach. My good buddy Tom and our security team, most of whom I now consider friends were traveling back from some sites in a very "hot" area, under military escort when the roadside bomb detonated between two of our cars. Luckily the only injury was a burst ear drum that was caused by the blast. The bomb was placed inside the carcass of a dog. This is a pretty common technique. Our armored vehicle took some shrapnel and the "Gun Ship" had a few windows blown out. Some of the shrapnel made it to the inside of the Gun Ship but was stopped by the spare tire, which is extremely lucky for our Tailgunner, who sits right next to the tire.
This is one of those situations that makes me wonder what would have the outcome been if they had taken a few extra seconds at one of our sites, or left just a little bit earlier. We were extremely lucky yesterday, the outcome is usually alot worse. One of the techniques that the insurgents use is to set an ambush just after the IED and in the confusion caused by the explosion they attack.
The military was very helpful, they closed the road and waited for spare tires to arrive, this took over 2 hours. This is one of those things I guess you can never be totally prepared for as I have mentioned before we take all the precautions we can, but over here timing is everything.......

Later
Tom

2005-07-13T15:26:00.000-07:00

Feeding Monkeys at a temple near Wan's families home

Waiting for some chow

Mother and her new baby

Street in the Roman city of Jerash in Jordan

East Gate of Jerash

Post Roman Era Church in Jerash

Roman Theater in Jerash

The photos above are from my last trip to Thailand. I spent a day in Jordan taking in the sights of the roman city of Jerash. The monkeys are from a temple that is very close to Wan's families home.

Safe Arrival

2005-07-05T17:47:00.000-07:00

Wan and I finally arrived at our Villas in the north a few days ago. We had quite a long journey to get back, because we had to stay a few days at our office in Baghdad. Wan is settling in and starting to feel comfortable in her new setting. She was, as you all can imagine a little nervous heading to Baghdad. The plane ride is was a little rough as it always is, and when we arrived at immigration we realized she needed a visa to enter the country. After about a 2 hour delay, they finally processed it at no cost, which was great because they really could have taken advantage of us but chose not to. Our stay in Baghdad was pretty quite, there was a small fire fight a few blocks away and a distant car bomb, but nothing out of the norm. Wan never got used to the choppers flying overhead.
Our drive up north started with a Baghdad traffic jam along a backed up sewer, which was making Wan gag a bit, then to get the attention of the drivers a trigger happy police officer decided to get everyones attention by firing off a few rounds in the air.

We have a new project we are starting which focuses on sealing the Syrian border off so foriegn fighthers cannot enter Iraq. The Military estimates that 35-40 cars cross the border each day carrying foriegn fighters and our job will be to stop them by building forts along the border. This is an extremely dangerous job for our subcontractor who will be working out there and is also very high profile, since most of the suicide bombers here in Iraq are non-iraqi's. I will be visiting the site in the coming week, with the military, which should be interesting. We havent arranged the trip yet but I am hoping I will be taking my first chopper ride.

I will keep you posted.

Tom

Back to Bangkok

2005-06-15T23:45:00.000-07:00

Right now I am sitting in Queen Alia Airport in Amman Jordan. I am leaving on a flight for Bangkok in about 1.5 hrs. I was able to arrive in Jordan two days ago from Baghdad and due to the flight schedule had a whole day in Jordan. I had the pleasure of visiting an archeological sight call Jerash which is about 1 hour outside of Amman. Jerash is an old Roman City that is currently being excavated. It was quite a breath taking experience to walk around the ruins and look at all of the engineering marvels the romans were capable of so long ago. Once I have a chance to tranfer the photos from my camera to my laptop I will post them on the site. Jordan is an absolutely beautiful country that is very hospitable as well. I certainly had my own preconcieved notions when I first came here, but after spending a day and meeting and interacting with the locals, my perceptions were a bit off. Jordan seems to be a good mix of new and old that blends really well and makes this place so interesting. I could talk about Jordan for a while and hope to spend more time here but I would suggest you get on a plane and check it out for yourself. It is a country that is bordered by Saudi Arabia, Syria, Israel and Iraq, and for a many problems there neighbors have, Jordan somehow manages to keep it together.

I am very exited of course to see Wan, it has been seven weeks since we last saw eachother. I am looking forward to relaxing and spending some quality time with her. My company has offered her a job at our office in the north so Wan will be coming back to Iraq with me. This offer has made both Wan and I very happy and I am sure she will enjoy the excitement of Iraq. Things are about to get alot more intersting, that for sure.

Later
Tom

Memorial Day in Mosul

2005-06-01T04:10:00.000-07:00

This year I had the rare oppurtunity to spend Memorial Day in the embattled Iraqi city of Mosul. The trip was my first to Mosul. Mosul is the third largest Iraqi city and is considered a pretty hot area based on the amount of insurgents in the area. It is always equally exciting and scary to go into an area like Mosul.
Each day we recieve daily intelligence reports outlining the treats in all of the areas in Iraq. We are aware of what type of tactics are being used by the insurgents, who they are targeting and what type of activitiy is expected in certain areas of the country depending on what holidays are coming up, what has happening politically in country etc.
During our pre-trip preparations we work with our security teams discussing possible attack scenario's and how we will respond in case of a contact. This may sound very scary to most people but is actually helps our team to focus and work together.
I always in my mind had a picture of what I thought Mosul looked like, fires burning, bombs going off, people fighting in the streets, once we arrived of course non of this was reality, which is what makes a place like Mosul so dangerous, it would be very simple if the enemy was so obvious.
Our trip was uneventful we conducted our business and then returned home safely. While we were visiting the base in Mosul we did have the oppurtunity to see an armored vehicle that was rammed by a car bomb just outside the base a few days before our visit. All the people driving in the car escaped with only minor cuts and bruises which was reassuring. The car of course was in pretty bad condition, there was actually a few pieces of the suicide bomber still stuck to it.
This scene was a real dose of reality for all of us as to what the potential risks of working here are.
I have shared some of my experiences with other people working here, I think the one thing we all have in common is the attitude that if it is time, than it is time, we take calculated risks each and every day and it's seems to be all about timing. This is probably the best approach to have working over here. Just another exciting day, I am sure there will be more to come.

Tom

Photo Explanations

2005-05-27T23:02:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I have written anything on this Blog, life here in Iraq has pretty much been business as usual, politically things are heating up quite a bit, the US Military has launched some major operations to root out insurgents and the new government is taking an active role in improving the security of the country as a whole.

I figured I would use this entry to explain some of the recent photos I have posted. Recently while we visited one of our project sites we notice a carpet factory across the street. Inside the factory were women who were weaving carpets by hand. It was pretty interesting to watch them work, it was very hard to follow how they actually weaved the carpets since they worked so quickly, which is probably normal but I am sure they were also pretty nervous by the Foriegners who where watching them. The only unfortuante thing is when we inquired about the price we got the foriegn price of $900 for one small rug about 1 x 3 ft. A little to steep for my taste.

The other interesting thing I witnessed the other week was the slaughtering of a goat we purchased. We had the butcher come to our villa and slaughter the goat. The first photo shows the butcher removing the skin which is done by making a hole in one of the legs and then using his mouth to blow air into the body which causes the skin to seperate from the body, the butcher then beats the skin like a drum to ensure the skin is totally seperated from the body. The second photo is of the butcher removing the skin. Safe to say some of the folks were a little bit sqeamish, but I had no problem chowing down that night on some goat steaks.

Lastly the photo of the tank was actually taken on a movie set near us, Jean Claude Van Damme is the star of the film. This means either the Iraqi movie industry is taking off or Jean Claude career is really in the shitter. Personally I think the latter is the case, no insult of course to all you Jean Claude fans.

Besides our two dogs we have recently aquired 4 ducks as pets, one of which unfortunately met its demise in the mouth of one of our dogs. I am currently working on aquiring a small donkey that is living on one of our project sites, the donkey became homeless when the owner packed himself with explosives and tried to attack an Iraqi National Guard checkpoint, luckily he didnt quite get the wiring quite right and blew himself up before he could reach his intended target.

Safe to say life here in Iraq is never boring.

Tom

2005-05-27T23:01:00.001-07:00

Preparing the night's dinner

2005-05-27T23:01:00.000-07:00

Removing the skin from a goat

2005-05-27T23:00:00.000-07:00

An old castle near our city and part of our team

2005-05-27T22:59:00.000-07:00

Our new Armored Vehicle

2005-05-25T18:01:00.000-07:00

Mount Dokan

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Dokan Lake

2005-05-25T18:00:00.000-07:00

Photo Op in Dokan

2005-05-25T17:59:00.000-07:00

Roadside stop in Shaqlawa

2005-05-21T20:38:00.001-07:00

Mountian pass on the way to Diyana

2005-05-21T20:38:00.000-07:00

Visiting the carpet factory

2005-05-21T20:37:00.000-07:00

Taking a convoy break

2005-05-21T08:27:00.000-07:00

Smiling faces in Serkand Khaliani

2005-05-21T08:26:00.000-07:00

Sunny day in the mountians

2005-05-21T08:25:00.000-07:00

Old style houses in Barzan Kurdistan

2005-05-21T08:24:00.000-07:00

Rug weaving factory in Barzan

The Times they are a Changing

2005-05-11T15:15:00.000-07:00

We had quite a busy week in the restive city that I have called home for the last 4 months. I am sure as many of you have read there was a large suicide bomb that killed upwards of 60 people in a police station. I have been to meetings with the city chief security minister at that very same police station which is about a mile away from our compound. This certianly came as a bit of a shock to all of us, since the area we live in has been very quiet for the past few years. Yesterday the police discovered a car bomb outside of one of the local banks, luckily they captured the individual who planned on detonating the bomb along with the Taxi it was planted in. They also discovered that up to 40 local police and security personnel were part of an insurgent network that has been operating in this area.

I had a very interesting dinner the other night with some Kurdish radicals, while I was visiting the city of Sulymaniyah (on the Iraninan border). Sulymaniyah is perhaps the safest most progressive city in all of Iraq. One of the guys had lived in Sweden and the US for many years. His feeling was that the Iraqi's are just trying to fool themselves into having all of the ethnic groups work together in one government, he was more in favor of drawing a border between the Kurdsistan and the rest of Iraq thus establishing two different countries. I have had this very same feeling, it seems to me (although my stay has been short) that the Kurds and Arabs are two different cultures with quite a bit of history (bad) between them dating back at least 1000 years, perhaps it would be easier for them to split Iraq into two countries. I havent really decided if a unified Iraq is the best thing for this country, I guess I will give it more time before I come to a decision. Both options have thier advantages and disadvantages and it is really up to the Iraqi people to decide.

Later
Tom

Return from Thailand

2005-05-01T07:53:00.000-07:00

When my time in paradise has come to a quick end. The time I spent with Wan in Thailand was wonderful. It was a great time to reconnect with eachother in a way that cant be done over the phone. We spent some time on the coast relaxing by the beach and working on our new tattoos that are to large to be done in a few sittings. We spent a few days with her family spending our days reading and relaxing in hammocks. Most of the time we were in Bangkok at our apartment, just enjoying eachother's company. The day I left was a very difficult time for the both of us. It seems like leaving this time was more difficult than the first.
Once I passed through Immigration, I had to "throw a switch" in my brain, change my attitude and get ready to return to Iraq. This isnt a very easy thing to do but is something that is necessary in order to survive in this type of environment, pay attention to the details, be vigilant and dont take anything for granted. I arrived in Baghdad on Friday afternoon, thankfully after all the bombs had gone off, for those of you who didnt see the news, Baghdad alone had 12 deadly bombings within a matter of minutes. On Saturday, I headed home, a six hour drive from Baghdad, through some pretty "hot" areas, the trip was successful and uneventful as usual. Upon arriving home I found out that there was a bomb that went off the day before just outside our city. Where we stay has been very safe, but every once in a while there is an incident. It is not known if this bombing was insurgent related or politically motivated. It just re-enforces the fact that here in Iraq nothing can be taken for granted.
When I arrived in the office, there was a package for me from one of my friends Michelle, donations for some of the less fortuante local children, seeing this outpouring of kindness from Michelle helped to remind me of why I am here. Hopefully the time I spend here will have some small impact on some peoples lives, I know it has already begun to impact mine in a way that words will never fully explain.

Tom

Relaxed

2005-04-13T23:34:00.000-07:00

Today I flew out of Baghdad to Amman Jordan on my way to the Land Of Smiles or as the locals call it the Big Mango (Bangkok). I am definately looking forward to a few days on the beach getting foot massages and drinking ice cold Beer Chang with Wan. Leaving Baghdad was uneventful, although when I arrived in Jordan I found out it was a very active day in Baghdad, some very large car bombs went off, one of which we heard at about 0600. It's funny how over the last 2 1/2 months I have gotten used to certian sounds and events, I never would have thought the sound of a car bomb would be businees as usual, but as I mentioned before life in Iraq is anything but normal. It was a nice feeling to arrive at the hotel in Amman and have nothing to do and know where to go. I really enjoyed walking around the city taking in the sights. It was nice to not have to look over my shoulder and worry if every parked car on the side of the road was a bomb. I feel very relaxed and ready to spend some time with Wan doing nothing in particular just enjoying the lighter side of life.

That's all for now, more to come from the Big Mango.

Later
Tom

2005-04-10T04:48:00.000-07:00

Looking for a husband

2005-04-10T04:47:00.000-07:00

Our Cook Anis

2005-04-10T04:46:00.000-07:00

Waterfall in Shaklawa

2005-04-10T04:45:00.000-07:00

Kids at a school we visited

2005-04-05T05:32:00.000-07:00

Doi Suthep Temple in Chang Mai

2005-04-05T05:31:00.000-07:00

Midnight Snack

2005-04-05T05:24:00.000-07:00

Temple in Chang Mai

2005-04-05T05:23:00.001-07:00

My lovely wife

2005-04-05T05:23:00.000-07:00

Wan at a temple in Chang Mai, Thailand

2005-04-05T05:22:00.000-07:00

Nung and and a lady from northern Thailand

A Very Sad Day, A Very Happy Day

2005-04-04T14:19:00.000-07:00

On Saturday April 1st we recieved some bad news, one of our co-workers was killed in an ambush outside of Falluja. I had met this person a few times and had actually seen him the week before in Baghdad. Their convoy was traveling back from one of our jobsites to a US base in Falluja when their convoy was hit by 2 IED's (roadside bomb) they also took on Small Arms Fire which penetrated the car and hit our Co-Worker, he passed away on the way to the base which was only 1.5 miles away. For alot of us we knew the situation we were getting into coming to work in Iraq but his incident brings into light the harsh reality of where we are. I have thought about this person many times since he passed and wondered what if they left the site five minutes earlier or 5 minutes later, a small change in the course of the day could have changed the outcome of the incident. For all of us working here we understand the risks we are taking and know what the dangers are and we take every precaution we can but most of the time it boils down to being in the wrong place at the wrong time. In order to be successful here and not go insane, you cannot worry everytime you get into a car and go somewhere, the best you can do is be aware of you surroundings. Working here raises your alertness and awareness to all of your surroundings, as you are driving you absord every minute detail of every passing car, every stationary car even every person standing on the side of the road. At the end of each day you feel like you have lived that day to the fullest and have a real appreciation of being alive.

I am scheduled to travel to Thailand in a few days to see my wife. The feeling of seeing her after a few months is very exciting. It will be a stange experience since I have been living in such a controlled environment, I am wondering how I will react to having the freedom to walk through the market, go to a restaurant or watch a movie without being followed by a team of security guards. Will I be looking over my shoulder and taking in all of my surroundings, not letting my guard down or will it be life as usual. All of us here have been able to adapt to our surroundings and make sacrifices in our lives for our own protection, it has only been a few months and I think it will feel like a whole new experience to be able to do simple everyday things that I have in the past taken for granted.

Wherever I lay my head is home.

Take Care and enjoy the simple things in life.

Later
Tom

A Brief History Lesson

2005-04-01T11:15:00.000-08:00

The first thing I would like to do is to clarify a statement I made in my last entry, the land mines in the north were planted by Saddam during the war with Iran. The mines were laid in a pattern to allow Iraqi Troops to move through the mine fields using maps of the mine fields. The maps have long since disappeared and as a direct result alot of Kurds in the villages along the Irainian Border have lost there lives or been disabled. Sorry for the confusion.

I never realized how much culture and history Iraq has. I have been told that there are actually more references in the bible to places in Iraq then there are references to Israel. The only other area that contains more places referenced in the bible is Jordan. Supposedly Noah's are was found somewhere near the border of Iraq and Turkey. The ancient city of Babylon is located in southern Iraq and the place where Moses drew water from a rock is located in the North. I am told that alot of the names of the places referenced in the bible are still the same. I am planning on picking up a bible to read so I can understand some of the history of the places I am visiting.

After visiting some of the remote villages I am amazed at the detemination of the people. Most of these villages dont have any power or decent drinking water. Alot of these areas are in the mountians which during the winter are very cold. Which means during the winter most of the water sources are frozen so there is no drinking water or water to bath with. Most of the villagers dont have any heaters or proper clothing. Some folks from my company have decided to make some donations to help these people. If anyone is interested in making a donation please let me know, the smallest amount will make all the difference to these folks.

Thats all for now.

Tom

2005-03-31T23:01:00.001-08:00

Heading to work

2005-03-31T23:01:00.000-08:00

Our Tailgunner

2005-03-31T23:00:00.000-08:00

Iraqi Dump Truck

2005-03-31T22:59:00.000-08:00

Children from a village

2005-03-31T22:58:00.000-08:00

Ancient Kurdish City

2005-03-31T06:31:00.001-08:00

My buddy Tom

2005-03-31T06:31:00.000-08:00

How does this thing work

2005-03-31T06:30:00.000-08:00

Mud House in the south

2005-03-31T06:29:00.000-08:00

A little extra fire power never hurts

2005-03-31T06:24:00.000-08:00

It's a tough life

2005-03-31T06:23:00.000-08:00

Our watch dog Bear

2005-03-31T06:22:00.000-08:00

You can't be serious

Thanks Aunt Michelle

2005-03-30T23:52:00.000-08:00

I first must start off by thanking my Aunt Michelle for giving me the idea to start this blog. It seems like a great way for me to keep all my friends and relatives up to date on my experiences and thoughts.
Secondly since I am working as a contractor in Iraq, it is a great way for people to hear the "good" things that are happening in this country as opposed to watching the body count of the US Soldiers lost each day rise on the nightly news.
When the war here first started I personally thought the reasons our government gave for the invasion were totally bogus. After spending 2 months here I still feel the same way, although each day I see the positive impacts the US and the Coalition Countries are making on the country and its people.
This becomes obvious as I get out and visit villages where people have been persecuted for 15 years because of thier ethnicity. We have gone to villages that Sadam leveled 4 times while he was in power and the people have nothing but hope for the future because they know that things are improving. This progress is extremely obvious in the Northern Region of Iraq know as Kurdistan. There are over 20 Million land mines in this region that were placed by Sadam's regime mostly on farm land in an effort to wipe out the Kurds. There are companies over here working to remove and destroy these mines so this land can be used for cultivation. There are numerous companies building infastructure, and other civil works to help improve the standard of living here. (I dont want to go into to much detail about these projects because of the secutity situation here, to much detail in the wrong hands can put alot of peoples lives at risk.) This may sound extreme but it is a reality of life here in Iraq. Every movement we make is based on intelligence gathered by various sources and our security and the security of the local people who work with us is always the first priority.
Hope you all enjoyed the first installation of many I hope.
(If anyone would like to comment please feel free, for those of you close to me please dont reference where I am living, company I work for or what type of projects I am working on.)

Wishing you all well
Later
Tom

2005-03-30T05:09:00.000-08:00

Northern Mountians

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Roadside Oil Pools

2005-03-30T04:51:00.000-08:00

One of Saddam's Prision's

2005-03-30T04:50:00.000-08:00

Local Shepard

2005-03-30T04:49:00.000-08:00

Some Co-workers